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The Beautiful Game’s Serious Blemish

June 2, 2010 5:03 pmJune 2, 2010 5:03 pm

While much of the (male) world rejoices with anticipation for the impending World Cup to commence in South Africa on June 11, most Irish (male and female) continue to be livid and feel slighted for being excluded from this event by dint of an egregious refereeing error in Ireland’s qualifying match against France. The referee awarded the French an all-decisive goal that had involved an obvious hand-play by the French superstar Thierry Henry thus catapulting the French into the tournament on the basis of a clear rule infraction.

Had this incident been a rare exception in soccer, it could be chalked up as a tragic for the Irish with no larger implications for the game. Alas, this is not the case. Indeed, similar errors have come to mar soccer on all its levels, country and club, major as well as minor leagues, globally televised tournaments and matches, as well as local games.

Indeed, it would not be too far fetched to argue that the game’s integrity — and thus legitimacy — have been challenged by these serious refereeing errors whose ubiquity and frequency are increasingly part of the public domain because of all the new media that have rendered the game even more global than it had already been.

What makes this issue so central to soccer’s future is because these errors do not so much result from the referees’ negligence, inattentiveness or incompetence as much as they emanate from a confluence of the game’s speed, its players’ athleticism, the size of the playing surface and a puzzling resistance by the game’s leading authorities to adapt rules that hail from the 19th century to resources easily available in the 21st.

First, there is the need for video evidence. This would literally furnish the game changer in those few key situations that decide a match, such as an unjustifiably denied goal, an erroneous red card or an egregious offside call.

There are two sensible ways of doing this: first, one could install a sort of über-official who surveys video monitors, immediately overrules a blatantly wrong call, and directly communicates this decision with the referee and linesmen on the field (who are already equipped with earphones). Or alternatively, one could give each team the opportunity to challenge up to two referee decisions per game, employing video replays to review rules infractions and disputes. This procedure would give the referees on the field the opportunity, if necessary, to overrule their initial calls. These quick reviews would not waste much time or interrupt the flow of the game. In fact, in the current situation the berating of the referee by the slighted team’s players consumes more playing time than any review ever will.

Second, we need to make use of the already perfectly functioning electronic chip in the ball. This chip would decisively settle whether a ball crossed the field’s side or its all-important goal lines. Just think how this technology has successfully reduced line-related controversies in tennis’s major tournaments.

Third, serious consideration should be given to the introduction of a second referee with each accorded responsibility for one half of the huge playing field. After all, the N.B.A. employs three referees on a playing surface one-ninth the size of a soccer field.

These measures, including the overdue use of available modern technology, would not diminish but augment the effectiveness of the all-too-often clueless referees, whose authority has suffered serious decline with the proliferation of mistakes that have come to decide major games and championships. While none of these suggested measures are new, they would, if implemented, significantly add clarity and fairness to soccer and thus enhance the legitimacy of the game’s all-important results.

Many of these overdue reforms have long been promoted by leading soccer experts such as the Dutch world-class striker Marco van Basten and the former FIFA referee Markus Merk of Germany. Decisive reforms that easily minimize refereeing errors have also been supported by a majority of soccer fans around the world. Like the Irish, many of them have become increasingly alienated by soccer’s old ruling regime and the conservative authorities that guard it.

Of course we are fully aware that human error will never be eliminated from affecting the outcome in any sports. Indeed, we actually believe that the “we was robbed” dimension of all such sports adds to their lore and legend. But it surely behooves a global product of soccer’s dimension to minimize the most egregious and avoidable errors that have come to mar the game’s integrity.

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Goal, The New York Times soccer blog, will report on news and features from the world of soccer and around the Web. Times editors and reporters will follow international tournaments and provide analysis of games. There will be interviews with players, coaches and notable soccer fans, as well as a weekly blog column by Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore. Readers can discuss Major League Soccer, foreign leagues and other issues with fellow soccer fans.